Reds utility backline player Karmichael Hunt will not be selected for Friday’s Super Rugby match against the Highlanders as he awaits a court appearance to answer charges of supplying cocaine.

The 28-year-old, a potential Wallaby bolter for the World Cup, was stood down by the Reds last week after it emerged he was 1 of 4 people given notice by Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission to appear in court on 5 March.

Hunt missed the Reds’ win over Western Force over the weekend and will continue to stay on the sidelines pending his hearing, the Reds said in a statement.

“Following extensive consultation with Karmichael over the weekend, we have determined that it continues to be best for Karmichael’s welfare that he is not available for selection this Friday,” he said.

Cyclone Marcia could force only the 2nd abandoned match in Super Rugby history, with the Round 2 clash between the Reds and Western Force in major doubt as heavy wind and torrential rain batters Brisbane.

Should the match be abandoned, the game will be deemed a draw, with both the Reds and Force to collect 2 competition points each.

Officials from SANZAR, the ARU and both teams were locked in deep discussion on Friday, planning possible contingencies if the category 3 storm continues to cause havoc in the city.

Reds head coach Richard Graham has named his side to take on the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium this Saturday, with 4 personnel changes to the side which lost to the Brumbies in the opening Round.

2 Of the changes are to the starting side, with former All Blacks flanker Adam Thomson and Wallabies utility James O’Connor named to make their Reds debut.

Thomson will start at blindside flanker, with Curtis Browning shifting to the bench. O’Connor has been named starting flyhalf, with Karmichael Hunt returning to fullback.

On the bench, former Australian Schoolboys and Under 20 representative Tom Murday replaces Ed O’Donoghue at lock. Murday was part of the Reds Wider Training Squad in 2013 before heading to New Zealand to join ITM Cup side Northland. He was a member of the Blues Extended Player Squad last year before returning home to train with the Reds. Should he take the field this weekend it will be his Super Rugby debut.

The other change to the replacements sees utility Sam Johnson come in for Duncan Paia’aua, who has been ruled out following a head knock in last week’s match. Johnson, a bruising centre for Brisbane club GPS, made his Super Rugby debut for the Reds last season and is a member of the club’s Elite Development Squad.

The Duty Judicial Officer has determined that no further sanction will be imposed upon James Horwill of the Reds after he was issued a red card during a Super Rugby match at the weekend.

Horwill was issued a yellow card on two separate occasions for infringements at the breakdown, and at the maul. These occurred in the 48th and 75th minutes in the match between the Brumbies and the Reds at GIO Stadium in Canberra on 13 February 2015, and he was shown a red card on the second occasion.

Reds head coach Richard Graham has named his side for its opening Round of Super Rugby against the Brumbies in Canberra this Friday.

The match-day squad features Lachie Turner returning from injury to play his first game in 2015 and scrumhalf Will Genia playing his 100th Super Rugby game, after already earning his 100th cap for Queensland in 2014.

Reds coach Richard Graham believes their more ‘free spirited’ approach to the game will suit skilful players like Karmichael Hunt and James O’Connor.

While Graham looks set to start with Hunt at flyhalf in the season-opener against the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday, the Wallaby utility back, O’Connor, is likely to appear at first receiver very often.

Speaking at a media briefing ahead of their trip to the Australia capital, the Reds mentor made no secret of his admiration for two players, as well as the skill sets the code-hopper and disgraced Wallaby can bring to the team.

“I though Karmichael did really well,” Graham said, adding: “I was really pleased with his performance – he was very clear in his communication and decisive and that got us on the front foot.”

The Reds have named their team to play the Crusaders at Ballymore in what will be their final Super Rugby pre-season clash.

As revealed yesterday Reds recent recruit Karmichael Hunt will start at flyhalf in the match as the Queensland side look at ways of filling the gap created by Quade Cooper’s injury.

Reds head coach Richard Graham has announced a 23-man squad for the fixture, with a further three players to be added. In all Graham has made three changes to the starting team from last week’s match.

Hunt’s move to starting flyhalf has shifted 20-year-old Duncan Paia’aua to the reserves bench, Chris Feauai-Sautia has been brought into a starting wing spot and Jamie-Jerry Taulagi has moved to starting fullback.

Dan Carter will start the Crusaders’ last warm-up match ahead of potentially his final Super Rugby season against the Reds on Friday at flyhalf with team-mate Colin Slade switching to fullback.

The 32-year-old Carter, who will join French side Racing Metro at the conclusion of this year’s World Cup, had played mostly at inside centre last year when he returned to the Crusaders from a sabbatical to accommodate Slade’s good form.

The fact he will play in his preferred flyhalf position suggests he will get the nod from coach Todd Blackadder to start there for the Crusaders’ opening game against the Melbourne Rebels on 13 February in Christchurch.

Reds prop Greg Holmes will be sidelined for up to 9 weeks, after tearing a ligament in his left thumb while lifting in a lineout drill earlier this week.

Holmes was recovering from a shoulder injury suffered during the National Rugby Championship and was expected to make his return in the Reds pre-season match against the Crusaders, but instead had surgery to repair the ligament on Friday.

Reds head coach Richard Graham was disappointed to lose a veteran of 121 games, but said it would provide some of Queensland’s young props an opportunity to further develop.

Queensland Rugby Union today announced prop James Slipper will captain the Reds for the 2015 Super Rugby season.

He will be supported in the role by two new vice-captains in Reds and Wallabies lock Rob Simmons and recent signing Karmichael Hunt.

Slipper takes over the role with the blessing of incumbent captain James Horwill, who after a number of discussions agreed the best long-term outcome for the future success of the Reds was to step down and allow the growth of the leadership within the team.

In 2014, Slipper was recognised by his Queensland teammates as the Pilecki Medal winner for Players’ Player of the Year and also claimed the Rugby Union Players’ Association Medal for Excellence – which is voted on by all Super Rugby players.

He was also vice-captain of the Wallabies throughout the 2014 Test season and said he was honoured to be given the title of Reds skipper.

“I’m incredibly humbled by this decision. I take great pride in playing for Queensland, so to be named captain is a great honour,” Slipper said.

Fiery All Black loose forward Liam Messam will return to the growing ranks of Rugby Union players dabbling in boxing as a pre-season pastime.

Messam, known for his abrasive approach to the game, will be on the undercard when superstars Sonny Bill Williams and Quade Cooper headline the action at the inaugural Footy Show Fight Night in Sydney next month.

Rugby League star Paul Gallen and rising Australian boxer Willis Meehan will also feature in the 31 January event.

Messam’s last entry into the square ring was a points defeat to Gallen in December last year, after he had also beaten Wendell Sailor in 2011.

Queensland Rugby has announced James Horwill has signed a three-year contract with English Premiership giant Harlequins.

Horwill will make the move to the famous London club following the 2015 Rugby World Cup, which concludes in October next year.

He is currently the most-capped Queensland captain, having led the Reds on 69 occasions.

A modern-day champion of the Reds who led Queensland to the 2011 Super Rugby title, Horwill will make the 2015 Super Rugby season his 10th and his last and is determined to achieve success when he pulls on the Reds jersey for the final time next year.

The Queensland Reds have signed 17-year-old centre Campbell Magnay, the youngest player in the inaugural season of the National Rugby Championship.

Magnay joins the Reds on a three-year deal, after impressing in his appearances for Bond University Queensland Country throughout the NRC.

He is the ninth Queensland NRC player to be offered some level of contract with the Reds program.

The former St. Joseph’s Nudgee College student represented both the Queensland and Australian Schoolboys sides last year and was playing Premier Colts for Brisbane club side GPS when offered an opportunity with Queensland Country.

Injured Queensland Reds and Wallabies fly half Quade Cooper sat down with Chris Garry last week to discuss a dramatic year for his code and club.

Cooper reveals how he helped lure the brightest talent in world rugby, Taniela “Tongan Thor” Tupou, from the clutches of the All Blacks to the Reds, why Queensland should have hit the player market hard following their Super Rugby triumph in 2011, when he will return from injury … and predicts Karmichael Hunt will make the Wallabies’ World Cup squad.

Taniela Tupou’s decision to snub the All Blacks has attracted derision in New Zealand.

The Reds is set to sign barnstorming teenage sensation Taniela ‘Tongan Thor’ Tupou.

The Reds are understood to be close to finalising a deal for the New Zealand-based 18-year-old who has been chased by four countries and two rival Australian franchises.

If the signing comes off, it will be a massive boost for Australian rugby and cap an impressive fortnight for the Reds, who announced two weeks ago that they have recruited James O’Connor and Karmichael Hunt for next year.

Tupou revealed earlier this week that he would reject offers from the NZRU to defect to Australia, where his older brother lives and plans to guide his career.

The NZRU held last-minute meetings with Tupou in a bid to change his mind but he has not wavered.

Runaway success: James O’Connor scores a try for Toulon on the weekend.

The short-term future of James O’Connor and his return to Australia is assured, but doubts remain about his long-term plans after the World Cup in Britain next year.

Queensland are expecting O’Connor, who has 44 Test caps with the Wallabies, to remain in Brisbane after announcing last Friday that the back had signed a two-year deal with them – starting next season.

The Queensland Reds will on Friday night unveil James O’Connor and Karmichael Hunt as their blue-chip recruits for 2015.

Rugby’s worst-kept secrets will be revealed together at the Reds’ Gala Ball at the Brisbane Convention Centre, but diehard fans will be hoping for more.

Although O’Connor and Hunt, neither of whom will be in attendance, represent the franchise’s biggest recruitment announcement since Super Rugby kicked off in 1996, Queensland can’t fix the problems that plagued them this season with two outside backs.

Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau made national headlines when they defected from the NRL to AFL in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Folau finished a difficult, though lucrative, stint in the AFL in 2012 and is now one of rugby union’s top draw cards. Hunt, meanwhile, is poised to join him in the 15-man code with reports linking him to the Queensland Reds in 2015.